The Week Ahead – 11th December – 14th December 2017

Reducing aviation emissionsMEPs will vote to endorse the agreement between parliament and council on ECR MEP Julie Girling’s report on the Aviation part of the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme. Under the agreement, international flights will continue to be exempted from the ETS until December 2023, in order to allow time for a newly introduced global scheme to take shape and bring the aviation sector more in line with others covered by the ETS.

When: Monday @ 17:00, vote: Tuesday @ 12:00

Ongoing negotiations with the United Kingdom
In advance of next week’s European Council MEPs will debate the current state of Brexit negotiations as both the EU and the UK prepare to enter the crucial second phase. ECR co-chair Syed Kamall will speak on behalf of the Group in the debate and is also available for interview in Strasbourg.

When: Wednesday @ 9:00, vote: Wednesday @ 12:30Copyright and online broadcastsOn Tuesday MEPs will vote on whether to endorse the position of the legal affairs committee on making news and current affairs programmes more widely available cross borders. The committee voted to limit the scope of the commission’s proposal where ECR shadow Saj Karim was concerned that applying it to all broadcast sectors could seriously damage the business models of content providers and ultimately lead to lower quality content for consumers.

If approved, the committees can begin negotiations with the council, if rejected the full proposals will return to the plenary for debate and vote.

When: Tuesday @ 12:00Panama leaks committee to vote recommendationsOn Wednesday MEPs will vote on the recommendations of the PANA committee that was set up in the wake of the Panama leaks scandal. The ECR Group strongly believes in the need to improve tax transparency globally and will continue to support further appropriate initiatives in this area.

When: Tuesday @ 9:00, vote: Wednesday @ 12:30

Goner kebabs
A seemingly uncontroversial proposal to extend the EU’s authorisation of the use of phosphate additives to include kebab meat will be put to vote on Tuesday. A resolution tabled by the environment committee is seeking to reject a proposal despite positive assessments from the EU’s food safety agency. The ECR Group will oppose the resolution, as we believe there is sound science-based mandate for its use, which ensures a high level of protection for the health and safety of consumers.